The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone – Blu-Ray Review
For the 30th anniversary of The Godfather Part III, director Francis Ford Coppola has re-edited the film and have given it back its original title, The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone. More times than not, when you get to the third film in a trilogy, the focus to bring the story to a close doesn’t always make for a satisfying viewing experience. The third installment of The Godfather series was a huge disappointment to most of those who loved the earlier films. Coppola and writer Mario Puzo intended part 3 to be more of an epilogue to sum up the first two films. Unfortunately, in 1990, that’s not what moviegoers got. What the filmmaker has done here is basically rearranged scenes and slightly edited moments to give the narrative something more in line with the original vision. Does Coppola succeed at that? Yes, he does, the editing does let the film makes a bit more sense. However, it does very little to fix what is actually wrong with the third Godfather film.
To make sure I was able to review this release fairly, I spend the weekend revisiting the original trilogy (That is a nearly 9-hour investment). Then I waited a day before delving into Coda. It has been many years since I watched these films so I felt I needed to have it all fresh in my mind.
Set years after The Godfather Part II, Coda sees Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) trying to be fully legitimate. No more criminal activity for the Corleone family. His children are now all grown up. His daughter Mary (Sofia Coppola) has been working for her father with trying to do good with the church and his son Anthony (Franc D’Ambrosio) has decided to quit law school to become a professional singer. Michael’s sister Connie (Talia Shire) has grown into a much stronger individual. Then there is Michael’s nephew Vincent (Andy Garcia) who is as hot tempered as his late father Sonny. Although Michael wants out of the crime life, it is Vincent who wants to be fully invested in the life that that built up the Corleone family. Despite Vincent being a wild card, Michael does take him under his wing in hopes to teach him a few things.
Watching both versions of the third Godfather film, I realized that it is not nearly as bad as I remembered and although the new edit makes the story easier to take in, there are just too many issues that make it such a lesser film. First-of-all, although Sophia Coppola has gone on to become a talented filmmaker like her father, there is no amount of editing that can fix a truly awful performance and her character is supposed to be a big part of the story’s heart. I won’t call Andy Garcia’s performance bad, but it just doesn’t feel like it fits.
I don’t feel Coda is something that needed a theatrical release, but with the state theaters are in, they need something to show on their screens. As for a stand-alone Blu-ray, for fans of The Godfather series, I do think this edit of the film makes enough changes to warrant its’ availability, though I think it would have been better to have it as a bonus feature on a new 4K release (which will probably come at some point). I am giving The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone a very minor recommendation for only hardcore Godfather fans.
By: Marc Ferman
